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The US President does not usually take counsel, particularly from foreign leaders who often attempt to praise and admire the American leader.

However, the Central American nation's strongman president Bukele has followed a distinct strategy by urging the Trump administration to follow his example in impeaching what he terms “corrupt judges.”

The call for Trump to move against the US judiciary also garnered backing from Trump allies, including an social media message by one-time supporter the billionaire, who has previously amplified Bukele's demands to oust US judges.

Unprecedented Risks to Judicial Independence

Experts note that the leader's recent intervention occur of unmatched dangers to court autonomy and individual judges in the US, and during a period where the Trump administration is using similar strong-arm tactics employed by rulers in countries such as Turkey, Hungary, the Asian nation, and his native El Salvador to undermine democratic accountability.

Bukele's social media statement last week was just the latest in a long series of provocations and allegations he has made against the American judiciary, such as a March claim that the US was “facing a judicial coup,” and ridicule of a federal judge's ruling to halt deportation flights transporting suspected undocumented individuals to his nation's harsh prison system.

Attacks on Oregon Justice

Bukele's impeachment call was also issued amid online criticism on Oregon federal judge Judge Immergut by White House aide Miller, attorney general Bondi, Elon Musk, and Trump himself in a recent press gaggle.

Immergut had issued restraining orders blocking the administration from deploying the national guard, first in Oregon then in California. The president has been eager to dispatch soldiers into Portland, which the president has characterized as “war-ravaged” based on small, peaceful protests outside the urban federal building.

History of Targeting Judges

Miller, the former AG, and Musk have a history of criticizing judges who have blocked Trump's executive orders or otherwise impeded the government's political agenda. Before resuming office recently, the president directed his followers against judges presiding over his legal cases, who were then deluged with intimidation and abuse.

Monitoring groups, law enforcement agencies, and judges themselves have highlighted a heightened climate of threats and coercion in the months since he re-entered the presidency.

Rising Risk Data

Based on data collected by the federal agency, in 2025 through the end of September, there were 562 threats to 395 US justices, giving rise to more than eight hundred investigations. This year has already eclipsed 2022, and 2024, and is on track to top 2023's high of 630 reported incidents.

The threats are not just happening at the federal level. Data from the university's research project indicates that there have been at least 59 cases of intimidation, harassment, surveillance, or physical attacks committed against judges on the state and municipal levels in 2025.

Expert Insights on Root Causes

Specialists say that the intimidation are a result of the rhetoric coming from senior administration figures.

In May, the watchdog group published a detailed report claiming that “harmful and highly irresponsible statements from Trump administration members and allies coincide with escalating aggressive posts on online platforms.” It noted “a fifty-four percent increase in calls for removal and physical intimidation against judges across social media platforms from January to February 2025, the initial period of Trump’s administration.”

Beirich, the co-founder of GPAHE, said: “Trump’s warnings against judges have definitely fueled online vitriol at judges and demands for impeachment. Targeting the courts is another move in the administration's march towards strongman rule.”

International Strongman Tactics

This progression towards autocracy has been common in the past decade in multiple nations, such as by the Salvadoran.

In 2021, immediately after commencing a second term in the face of constitutional prohibitions, the president's parliamentary loyalists voted to remove the country’s attorney general and five judges on the constitutional court. The justices, who had angered him by ruling against pandemic policies, were replaced by replacements hand picked by the leader.

The action mirrored the Hungarian leader's overhaul of the nation's judiciary several years back; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s court cleanups recently; and efforts at similar moves in the Middle Eastern state and the European country.

Undermining Court Autonomy

Analysts explain that the intimidation and verbal assaults in the US can be seen as attempts to undermine court autonomy in a system that provides no simple method for the executive to dismiss judges the administration disapproves of.

Meghan Leonard, an academic at Illinois State University who has studied authoritarian backsliding in democracies, said the Trump administration had learned from the models set by authoritarians overseas.

“The administration is observing at these achievements and failures. They know they’re not going to be able to pass any laws that would undermine the courts,” she said.

Citing examples such as Miller’s persistent assertions of broad presidential authority, she added: “They openly attack the courts by repeating repeatedly that it is not a equal branch in the government structure.

“They continue to reframe the discussion by emphasizing their argument that the president has greater authority than this judicial branch, which is not how checks and balances work.”

Leonard said: “Justices' sole safeguard is people’s belief in the legitimacy of their ability to make those rulings. Personal intimidation on top of eroding institutional legitimacy may make judges hesitate about judgments that go against the sitting government, which is, of course, highly concerning for court oversight and for the political system.”

Coercion Methods

Kim Lane Scheppele, professor of social science and international affairs at the Ivy League school, has documented the use of “authoritarian law” by the such as Orbán and the Russian, and has warned about rising threats to judges in the US.

She pointed to a wave of so-called “pizza doxxings” this year, in which judges have received unsolicited pizza deliveries with the recipient listed as Daniel Anderl, the son of Justice Salas, who was murdered at the residence in 2020 by a assailant targeting Salas.

“All knows what it means. ‘We know where you live. We’re coming for you,’” the professor said.

“Federal judges are protected by the Secret Service and the Marshals Service. And these are dedicated law enforcement that are placed structurally inside the federal agency. And the former AG has been spearheading the attacks on justices.”

Administration Aims

Regarding the government's objectives, Scheppele said that “removing a US justice is almost certainly not going to happen because it’s very difficult to do. {Right now|Currently